[Debate] Member Count v/s Post Count

[Enchant]

liel said:

Definately post counts. ;D

Please try and be a bit more intelligent with your post. We like to keep these baords for actual discussions not spam comments. We want to here why you made your choice. Is there any personal experiences, or ideas in relation to the topic...please give a little more thought to them ...Thank you

[Aluragirl16]

I feel both are important- because the number of members is how many people like your website and are willing to join for the subject of the website and be apart of it. Post count shows that everyone interacts on the website between the members that have joined.

[bsf1002]

I agree that you need both. The number of members is what pulls people in at first, but they won't stay unless you have posting going on in the forum. But in the long run post counts are more important.

[creeper77]

Although i would like more members i really like the core i do have and i wouldn't trade them for 100 other members.

We're like a small online family.

So with that said i'd choose quality posts anytime.

[BrickByBrick]

See the thing with my board is that I have over 600 members, however guests can only see about 15 000 posts they made. When you log in there are lots more boards to work on, and when logged in you will see close to 40 000 posts. So it's a huge jump from what members see and what guests see. I think that if your a guest and your looking for post count, your not going to see it all as, there are probably going to be hidden boards.

[Dëvïn]

I think a somewhat decent ratio in my opinion would be at least 50 posts per member when around 100 members. This would mean somewhat decent activity, and this problem is most common is design forums.
They should leave their code databases + gfx databases open to guests, as this can get a lot of non-posting members. As I learned on my old forum.

[Fallen]

I think that a lot of guest when visiting a forum will look at the member count to see if it's popular or not, and that will influence their decision.

I have seven members on my site as of right now. Only four of them actually come on once a day, and one of them is actually grounded but comes on anyways. Including the 15 posts that the other three members made, our forum has a grand total 830, which shows that 'popular' forums with a lot of members (with a lot of inactive members) may not do as well as a small forum (member wise) with mostly active members.

[Majik]

When I find a board I like, the first thing I do is check to see if there are any active threads around. If I see a board who's last post was posted like.. two months before, then that throws me off a little. Then I check if there are any online members, and then the most recent post. Then I check the amount of members, and then the post count. If I see a lot of guest posts around the forum that kind of throws me off to the board too. I would have to say that I personally like a forum with a decent amout of members (say, fifty or so) who are on at least once every two days.

[Aspire]

your member count means nothing. if your post count is high then u know you have an active forum. most member how register almost never even post

[lesleybubbles]

im not sure. because members count is good but what if half of them are unactive? i would say post count but what if theres 50 members but all those posts are mainly from 4 active people? so i say both

[HoudiniDerek]

I try to look at both. I like larger member counts because that gives up the possibility of THAT many more ideas coming out at the forum and driving up the post count. Of course, I also look to post count to see if the members are all contributing or just a small number.

I mainly join forums that are about topics I like...regardless of member count and/or post count. If they are not very active, I figure that maybe some new blood will inspire others. If they are active, no one is hurt by a fresh perspective.

[R Ø G U € »]

I myself am shooting for an active member count of 30.
Then i can finaly kick back and let my board continue to grow on its own.
I just wish it were easy, on average 7 members ever come on to my site out of 18 (thats pretty sad right?)

But my opinion is.... high post count with a semi medium member count
That draws me to a forum unless its really really well made

[sergeim]

how do i get this code on my fourm

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</SPAN><BR><A HREF="http://www.inteliture.com/odometer-hit-counters.html" TARGET="_NEW"><FONT color=#808080 size=1>free hit counters</font></a>

[Enchant]

sergeim said:

how do i get this code on my fourm

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<IMG alt="free hit counters" border="0" SRC="www.inteliture.com/cgi-bin/counter.pl?URL=http://sergeim.proboards107.com/index.cgi"></A>
</SPAN><BR><A HREF="www.inteliture.com/odometer-hit-counters.html" TARGET="_NEW"><FONT color=#808080 size=1>free hit counters</font></a>

Please do not post support questions in the Discussion Board.

[BrowserBasedRPGs]

enchant said:

I have noticed that alot of admins and members are concerned with member count versus post count. Is member count, what you think the potential member is looking at, or the amount of post that were actually made? What do you look at as an admin and what do you look at as a potential member?

As a member, I normally do not join forums, unless they are active and have a topic that I am passionate about, with the exception of support theme boards, ie..graphics and coding. But, when deciding to join a forum, I have a tendency to look at the member count first, that is what will make me pause and look around closer at the forum stats to include the post count....I then look to see if there is a good ratio between them? To be honest, in most cases, there is not. In some cases, alot of potential members prefer a smaller type forum with a larger post count,they feel of it as more of a tight community and less intrusions. For others, it is a large forum with alot of members. A friendly atmosphere, but not as personal, but more active.

As a admin of a forum, When I first started The Enchanted Element, I was more concerned with member count. But as I grew more secure with the community, I began to think less of member count and more of quality posting. So, I started shedding the inactive accounts.

I know that different people will have different opinions and although, both have an importance to a community, some prefer one over the other. Which do you think is the more influential in the decision making?

I rather be a admin of a site with 1000 posts or more but with only like 5 members rather then one with like 100 members but with 50 posts. So I guess that means post count over member count for me!